Unexpected Perspective
by Azurevi
Summary: An unusual injury inflicted by an extraordinary weapon leaves Sesshomaru and Kagome with a strange predicament. Now Kagome has to learn how to act like a proper taiyoukai and Sessshomaru has to learn how to be a miko! Humor/adventure/eventually romance
1. In Danger

**I realized recently that writing just wasn't doing it for me anymore. Yes, terrible I know... But it's still my hobby! I just needed to find new ways to challenge myself! And so I joined live journal and the writing contests. This is for Dokuga's Damsel In Distress Contest. **

**This first chapter is a little more serious but I had to get that out of the way before I could get into the funny stuff, don't worry, it's coming!**

**Enjoy!**

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Sesshomaru surveyed the meadow Rin had chosen for her midday meal. It was full of wildflowers and bisected with a small river, an excellent battle ground as well as picnic spot. While he was certain his charge had picked it because of the flowers, he secretly hoped that part of her appreciated the battle-advantages of the area. He'd make a warlord of her yet.

But that would have to wait. Even before the overwhelming stench of the accursed Naraku reached him the wave of miasma swept through the meadow.

In the blink of an eye the taiyoukai had placed Rin on the back of Ah-Un and was murmuring instructions to the mount. A quick glare insured that Jaken was safely dangling from the dragon's tail as the beast prepared to take off. He didn't take his gaze from his charges until they were safely beyond Naraku's grasp, even as the hanyou himself made an appearance in the clearing.

"Sesshomaru-sama." The baboon-pelt clad nuisance bowed his head differentially.

The taiyoukai turned and sized up his adversary. From the stench alone he was sure that it was actually the creature himself, not a puppet.

_What a fortuitous day._ Sesshomaru allowed himself a small smile. There were few things he enjoyed more than tearing apart adversaries on a battle field big enough for his true form, should he decide to use it.

It took no more than a flick of claws and poison whip to rid the hanyou of his tiresome charade. When the pelt fell apart and a wooden doll with a single strand of hair fell to the ground, split in two, Sesshomaru immediately scanned the forest.

The attack came from behind and Sesshomaru blocked in time. Naraku had managed to distract him by presenting a doll as a decoy but it would not happen again.

_Insolent wretch._ Sesshomaru attacked with Tokijin, loping off appendages as fast as Naraku could regrow them. The few body parts that managed to get close to the taiyoukai were deflected with either a block of his sword or a well-executed punch. He continued in that manner, chopping, blocking, punching and striking and would have been quite content to dismember his enemy until there were no recognizable parts—maybe keeping an ear as a souvenir for his half-brother—when an unwelcome interruption broke through his focus.

"Naraku! You're going down!" A voice rang out from across the clearing. Inuyasha's wench announced her presence even as a sacred arrow blasted apart half of the hanyou.

_Such unnecessary posturing. _He sprang back to the riverbed to survey the damage and take note of his newly arrived dubious allies.

The wounds were hardly fatal and would prove to be more of a nuisance for the spider spawn than anything. As for Inuyasha's clique, the humans looked battle-ready though road-weary and his half-brother looked as cock-sure and battle-eager as ever.

Sesshomaru side-stepped the wind-scar and sent a cold look his brother's way. It never ceased to annoy him how a mere irritation had gained such power. The way Inuyasha wielded his father's fang was like a three-year-old human playing the role of lumberjack.

"Hey bastard! What are you doing here? Naraku's mine!" Inuyasha screamed, running at the debatably injured enemy.

"Fool." Sesshomaru watched with mild interest as his half-brother was tossed back with a casual flick Naraku's multi-tentacled appendage.

"Forgive the lack of formalities Sesshomaru-sama!" The houshi bowed his head slightly towards the taiyoukai even as he flung sacred sutras towards Naraku. "But we sensed Naraku and had to join you in battle. Any assistance you grant us would be greatly appreciated!"

_The monk is a wordsmith._ Sesshomaru inclined his head minutely, as much acknowledging the masterful way the houshi had asked for help as the apology.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" The miko raced around the edge of the field to his side, staying carefully out of reach of Naraku's many-phalanged grasp. She executed a short bow before urgently and fearlessly meeting his eyes. "Are Rin, Ah-Un and Jaken safe?"

He gave her a level glare, slightly offended that she thought he wouldn't see to the safety of his charges while also being mildly amused that she had asked about them in the same order of importance he assigned them.

"Thank goodness." She smiled and her scent bloomed.

Sesshomaru turned back to the battle, blocking out the strange young woman's assault on his senses. He tried not to take any interest in the miko for many reasons, the most predominant being that her scent intrigued him and he already had a human pet. Another would simply be a nuisance.

The battle followed a predictable pattern. Inuyasha used the tetsusaiga, the houshi pulled dismembered appendages into his kazaana until the hell-wasps made an appearance and he fell ill under the care of the kitsune. The taijiya attacked from the air with her youkai and Inuyasha's woman fired arrow after arrow until her quiver was empty.

Unexpectedly, just when Sesshomaru thought the miko would despair as she was now weaponless, she started infusing stones from the riverbed with her power and throwing them at Naraku. She actually had a surprisingly strong arm and hit more often than missed.

_Using her powers to turn what she has available into weapons. How… unconventional. _Sesshomaru mused. Despite his efforts to ignore her, the miko inadvertently inspired him. The battle was predictable, making the outcome predictable as well. _Perhaps if an unforeseen strategy comes into play, the outcome will change and Naraku will fall._

He pondered on what could be unexpected, unconventional even. At last, he realized tensaiga was pulsing with the demand for attention.

"Tensaiga?" He considered it. It would certainly be unexpected. _But how can it help?_

The miko had looked up sharply when he spoke and frowned at him, then at his sword, then at the battle before them.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Of course!"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Tensaiga can bring back the dead right?" In her excitement she wrapped slender fingers around his sleeve. "Naraku is MADE of dead things!"

She stared up at him with widened blue eyes, imploring him to understand.

"You wish to fight a thousand weaker enemies rather than one strong enemy?" He asked her.

She nodded. "His body under his control IS his army. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous."

Sesshomaru considered her. The young woman was intriguing indeed if she could quote Sun Tzu and understand the finer nuances behind the war strategist's words.

Without further delay Sesshomaru drew his sword in one smooth, practiced motion, weighting it in his hand for a moment before throwing it easily into the human torso of Naraku. He could see as parts of the hanyou broke off into lesser demons.

Very angry lesser demons.

Instead of converging on the weakened allies they turned to Naraku with hate-filled eyes and started ripping pieces off of him. The demons that had been slain and defiled to create Naraku had as much of a grudge against him as did his enemies.

"Woah. That's convenient." The miko breathed and he could scent her weariness as she clutched his sleeve now for support.

"Hn." Sesshomaru agreed.

As Naraku broke down into smaller component parts, a human arm struggled free of the mass of youkai flesh, holding tensaiga aloft.

_What on earth does he plan to do with a sword that doesn't cut living flesh?_ Shesshomaru mused.

His answer came seconds later when the sword was thrown with unexpected strength and accuracy towards the miko at his side. Despite his cool-headed understanding of the empty threat that tensaiga posed to them, some primal force urged him to protect the endangered young female. He pivoted to use his body as a shield but felt the blade impale straight through his body as though his armor wasn't even there and into the chest of the girl in front of him.

He felt a great wrenching in the place where the sword connected him to the miko and felt strangely outside of his own body. Blackness overtook his vision as both his and the woman's knees gave out and they fell, pinned on his sword.


	2. Dread

**Phew, I totally uploaded a bunch (okay, two) new stories really quickly because I've been trying to publish them FOREVER (a week) and fanfic has been blocking me. Annoying. Anyway, these are already written but I'm going to upload them a little slowly so you can savor them. But as all know, my patience is about as long as my attention span and I'll crack and want to read your thoughts and upload like crazy anyway. Le sigh, when will I ever learn?**

**XOXO**

**Az.**

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><p>Consciousness returned slowly to Kagome and with it came a massive headache.<p>

"Ugh." She winced as she tried to open her eyes. The sun had set but the starlight seemed unnaturally bright as she could clearly see the individual blades of grass in front of her.

She could also hear Inuyasha yelling unnecessarily close by.

"-IF YOUR STUPID SWORD KILLED HER I'M GOING TO RIP YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES AND BURY YOU WITH NARAKU YOU BASTARD!" He bellowed.

_I'm fine._ She tried to say but her throat felt parched and no words came out.

"Calm down Inuyasha." Miroku's voice filtered through her fuzzy brain. "Kagome-sama is still breathing, it will just take her longer to regain consciousness than your brother since she does not have the regenerating capabilities of a youkai."

"Keh. I know that." Inuyasha's gruff snort belied the anxiety she could hear in his voice.

With a huge effort she pushed to a sitting position and looked up at her worried friend. She could tell even in the dim lighting that there was a darkness behind his eyes, a certain human quality that set him apart from Sesshomaru. He continued to glare at her and she tried to think of some way to avoid the inevitable lecture.

She settled for a small gesture of affection and lay her head against his hip. He froze and a wave of what she could only describe as 'total freak-out' washed off of him.

"I'm fine Inuyasha." She murmured, shocking herself with the deepness of her own voice. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Really." Her voice still carried a deep timbre, deeper than Miroku's. "What the-? What's wrong with my voice?" She coughed into her hand, her clawed hand, with magenta striped wrists.

Dread built up inside her.

"Oh no." She whispered.

Her eyes dragged towards her silent friends of their own volition. There, lying on the grass in between Sango and Shippo, was a pair of brown shoes, attached to long legs that disappeared into a short green skirt, and…

"No no no!" She leapt to her feet and flailed for a moment with her one arm as she adjusted to her new higher center of gravity. "NO!"

"Calm down Sesshomaru-sama." Miroku stepped protectively in front of Kagome's body, lying unconscious a good fifteen feet away from her.

"I'm not freaking Sesshomaru! I'm me! What the hell!" She started hyperventilating. "I'm… no… I can't… how did… Eek!" Her new masculine voice managed a good impersonation of a very unmanly squeak.

A soft sigh easily registered in her new youkai-enhanced ears and she whirled on her own body as it raised both arms and looked at them curiously.

"Hn." Kagome's voice came out of her mouth with decidedly Sesshomaru-y inflection.

"YOU!" Kagome growled, flexing her clawed hand. "FIX THIS NOW!"

"Be silent." Sesshomaru pushed up to his feet in her body. "And calm before you lose control of my youki."

"HOW THE HELL CAN I BE-" She roared, which turned into a real roar as the human-shaped body she'd been inhabiting transformed abruptly to a gigantic three-legged white dog.

"I did warn you." Sesshomaru-in-Kagome sighed.

_Oh great! Now I'm a dog! A giant freaking dog with freaking corrosive battery-acid drool and I'M GONNA FALL OVER! SHIT! _She wobbled in a valiant attempt to stay posed on three legs but pitched muzzle-first into the clearing. _This is so unfair! Oh god what am I going to tell my mother! She's never let me keep a dog before and now I AM a dog and and and… _

She howled and sniffled until she felt one of her whiskers jerked violently and yelped.

She focused on the mirror-image of herself standing in front of her and growled.

Sesshomaru just glared through her blue eyes and Kagome felt a little like cowering.

_Wow I'm pretty scary when I want to be._ She stared at her body.

"Now that I have your attention. You must calm yourself and remember what it feels to be human before you poison the whole of the western lands."

She whined helplessly and struggled into a sitting position.

Sesshomaru sighed. "Think of your body as being smaller, more compact, having fingers, toes…"

Kagome whined more and Sesshomaru rolled his newly blue eyes.

"Kagome-sama…?" Miroku ventured, looking between the two of them like he was not entirely sure which to address. His decision was made as Kagome whimpered pitifully and he smiled up at her reassuringly. "Perhaps if you recalled what… uh… what Sesshomaru looks like in his humanoid form."

_Easy for you to say! You're not a giant dog who's going to live in a giant dog house because she's stuck in ginormo mode for the rest of her stupid life. _Kagome chuffed but finally closed her eyes and thought about Sesshomaru.

If she was perfectly honest then it wasn't the first time she'd ever thought about the taiyoukai. _Not that there's anything wrong with that! How could any girl completely ignore the whole deadly-exotic thing?_ With all that ridiculously pretty silver hair that she'd bet her eyeteeth was as heavy and luxuriant as silk and those deeply golden eyes that just scream 'I'm-going-to-devour-you'—albeit not usually in a good way but still…

While she was at it she might as well think about the sexy tattoo-like markings. She knew he had the obvious moon on his forehead and the two stripes on his cheekbones (which were unfairly high) and his wrist but she suspected that he might have had a few stripes hiding in other places on his body. Maybe his hips, that'd be pretty hot.

Now that she had the basics she could mentally dress him.

_He always dresses really well. I bet he spent centuries figuring out that outfit._ She swallowed a giggle, she was pretty sure the world would implode if Sesshomaru giggled, even if it was just because his body was possessed by a teenage girl.

The white and red haori, the white hakama, the black boots, the fluffy boa-thing that he always carried around and her favorite for last; the spiky black armor. The way it casually rested just below one shoulder was really pretty sultry and-

"Hey!" She realized Inuyasha was shaking her shoulder. "Snap out of it!"

"Huh? Oh. I did it?" She asked in her new strangely husky voice.

"I'm very impressed Sessh… Kagome… chan." Sango gave her an appraising look. "It takes a great deal of concentration and focus for demons to obtain a humanoid form."

"Th-thanks." Kagome stammered, not at all sure how to feel about the entire situation.

"Hn. It seems as though you have an excellent memory." Sesshomaru murmured as he breezed past her, managing to make her body look more graceful than it ever had before. "You recalled my form QUITE easily."

"Oh you jerk!" She growled back but was grateful to note that apparently youkai don't blush.

"Shall we continue…?" Miroku suggested hesitantly, then frowned thoughtfully. "Although I suppose it's somewhat pointless for you to try to go home at the moment Kagome-sama."

"Aw damnit! This sucks!" Kagome snarled, dripping poison from her hand.

"Control yourself miko." Sesshomaru commented idly.

"Shut up!" She clenched the fist and welcomed the momentary sting of pain before the poison receded. "Besides. You're the miko now." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's something I never thought I'd see Sesshomaru-sama do." Shippo stifled a giggle unsuccessfully. "Guess that really is Okaasan in there!"

"We will go to my home." Sesshomaru stated firmly, straightening his green skirt with a flick. "It will be safest and my library is extensive."

Miroku's eyes lit up at the word 'library' but Inuyasha scowled.

Kagome sighed. "I think it's the best we've got. Oh hey, did we defeat Naraku?" She looked around hopefully.

Miroku couldn't help the broad smile that spread across his face then as he whipped off his prayer beads, showing a curse-free palm. "I apologize for my cavalier attitude towards your situation but our greatest enemy is in fact defeated… a bit anticlimactic but I'm still quite content with the outcome."

"Woo hoo!" Kagome whooped and jumped in the air. "That's AWESOME news!"

"Human." Sesshomaru managed to make Kagome's voice sound positively frigid. "Never. Do that with my body again."

"Don't get yo-… er… MY panties in a twist buster! We defeated Naraku and I feel like celebrating! Maybe I'll dance around and skip next."

"You wouldn't dare." He narrowed his eyes at her.

Kagome stalked towards Sesshomaru and enjoyed his faintly uncomfortable expression as he had to look up to meet her golden eyes. "Who's the human now Sesshomaru-sama?"

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><strong>Just a quick note about the pronouns: I'm going to continue using their respective pronouns (Kagome: she, her, etc) because Kagome and Sesshomaru see themselves and each other as being their proper genders, regardless of the packaging, and since they're the main characters so mote it be.<strong>


	3. Indignant

**I think writing this was the most fun I've ever had writing a chapter. You'll see what I mean, I could NOT stop giggling.**

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><p>The next morning was absolute hell. The borrowed body Sesshomaru resided in was not accustomed to getting less than eight hours of sleep and he'd stayed on guard as long as he was able before sleep finally overtook him. His new body was soft and vulnerable and he felt every root and rock poke at his back and thighs and hips through the night.<p>

The miko had offered to let him use her 'sleeping bag' since she didn't need it but he'd refused. Now he was regretting that decision.

Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un had returned shortly after the miko's loss of control and form. Jaken had been suitably shocked and indignant. However, he was having a hard time treating Sesshomaru with the same amount of respect usually accorded as he felt it was treating a human reverently but a little shock of sacred powers had set him straight. Ah-Un adjusted with admirable speed and Rin was deliriously happy as the miko had taken upon herself to use her new-found body for 'the forces of good.'

Oh how his father was laughing now.

"Ready for a Sesshy toss?" The miko asked an exuberant Rin.

The little girl squealed and ran straight at the taiyoukai's form, grabbing onto his one hand with both of hers and getting tossed a good ten feet into the air, giggling madly all the while. Sesshomaru had to admit that the miko was a quick learner and careful as she caught Rin easily in one hand and swung her around in a circle.

He was also slightly surprised at how happy the idiotic displays were making his ward. If it weren't so damnably improper than he would consider continuing some of the behavior when he got his body back.

Despite that they'd been walking for hours towards his home in the middle of the western lands they were still half a day's travel by dragon and Sesshomaru was getting tired and grumpy, though he'd rather die than admit defeat to a mere human shell.

The only thing of interest to come of the whole ordeal so far was the opportunity to learn more about sacred powers without the risk of getting purified. But even that was proving more of a headache than it was worth as the miko seemed to have a distinct lack of control over said powers, making it exceedingly difficult for Sesshomaru to even begin to understand them for himself.

In addition to everything else he'd felt a tickling in the back of his skull for the past thirty paces, growing in annoyance steadily until it felt like a sneeze that refused to come to fruition.

He sighed faintly and glared when the miko whipped around at the noise, eyes locking on him.

"What's wrong?" She asked and he could not shake the oddness of hearing his own voice spoken.

"Nothing."

"You kinda got the shard-sense look." Shippo commented from _his_ mokomoto where he had been happily burrowed all day… and night.

"Oh! Do you sense a jewel shard?" The miko asked.

Sesshomaru stared at her blankly.

"Kinda like you've gotta sneeze but with your brain instead of your nose and it never happens." She supplied helpfully.

Sesshomaru decided that he had never sounded so foolish before in his life.

"Yes."

"Is it like a constant twinge or is it growing stronger?" She asked.

"Growing."

"Gradually or quickly?"

"Quickly."

"Kouga." Surprisingly she grinned, showing a flash of fang. "Oh this is going to be fun."

For the first time since their situation had started, Sesshomaru saw Inuyasha smile widely.

Moments later a cloud of dust engulfed the group and Sesshomaru felt pressure on his hands. As the air cleared the figure of the leader of the wolf-tribe became visible.

Rin yelped in alarm and the miko scooped her up easily, tucking her against the same mokomoto-clad shoulder where Shippo was hiding. Sesshomaru was grateful that despite not fully understanding Rin's fear of wolves, the miko had grasped the situation enough to know that there was a threat to his ward and protected her accordingly.

"Hey Kagome." The young alpha of the wolf tribe grinned possessively down at Sesshomaru. "How's my woman?"

A short sideways glance at the miko confirmed that the wolf was not her mate, or even her intended by her expression. Sesshomaru glared at the wolf indignantly and understood then why everyone else seemed so interested in how this encounter was going to end. He already didn't like the young alpha from his history with Rin and on top of that in his current form the brat's hands were much larger than his own and calloused roughly. Sesshomaru did not appreciate the comparison.

"Unhand me. Now." He glared furiously at the wolf.

"Huh?" Kouga's jaw fell open.

"If you value any alliance you have with the western lord you will remove your person from this Sesshomaru IMMEDIATELY." Sesshomaru dedicatedly ignored the muffled laughter from the rest of the group.

"K-Kagome?" He gaped at her.

"Not over there." Sesshomaru's true voice rang out, catching Kouga's attention.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" He tilted his head to the side. "You seem quite… covered in kids today."

"Thanks." The miko had the audacity to grin.

"And… smiley." Kouga looked nervous now.

The miko sighed and rounded on Sesshomaru with a hearty glare. "You see! You don't smile enough. It freaks people out when I smile now!"

"Good." Sesshomaru extracted his hands from Kouga's loosened grip.

"Here." The miko handed Rin off to Sesshomaru as soon as his arms were free and he was surprised at how heavy the little girl felt. "I'll need both… uh, hand."

Sesshomaru shot her a sour look and she shrugged.

"Listen Kouga. We got in a bit of trouble during our battle with Naraku and now Sesshomaru and I kinda swapped bodies. Temporarily! I hope." She shrugged elegantly at the wolf's stunned expression.

"So… you're in there Kagome?" He questioned hesitantly.

"Fraid so."

Kouga looked like he was considering grasping her hand but thought better of it when he got a good look at her claw-tipped fingers and striped wrist.

"Uh… how's my… woman?" He asked, even more hesitantly.

In the background Inuyasha and the houshi howled with laughter.


	4. Drop

**Phew, this has been a LONG week, and it's not even over yet _ oi. Anyway, present for you!**

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><p>Kagome was sulking. Which made Sesshomaru grumpy since—according to him—he NEVER publicly sulked and she should snap out of it before someone saw the state his poor body was in.<p>

The stuck-up dog couldn't even be happy that they'd gotten Naraku's jewel shards, which HE now got to wear around his neck since he had all her miko powers. It'd be easier if he was gloating but instead he was pulling the silent martyr thing and driving her crazy.

"Hmph. Jerk." She muttered.

Jaken jumped and nearly fell off Ah-Un at the sound of his master's voice. Kagome was actually fairly worried about the kappa as he seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. His brain was hard-wired against openly disrespecting Sesshomaru so he couldn't treat her the way he treated humans normally but he seemed to get even more nervous when she smiled at him reassuringly.

"Why the hell does everyone freak out when you smile?" She asked Sesshomaru, who was seated on Ah-Un in front of her.

"Because the things that make Sesshomaru-sama smile are bad for my health!" Jaken responded, huddling in front of Rin.

"Ah, maybe he just needs a new hobby." Kagome sighed and ran a hand through her hair, her long, heavy, silky, silver hair. "Mmm… Has he tried embroidery?"

Sesshomaru shot her a glare.

"Needles!" Jaken shuddered.

"Uh… how about dancing?"

"Kicking!" Jaken rubbed at phantom bruises on his head.

"Gardening?"

"The only things Sesshomaru-sama plants are dead bodies and I have to do the digging!"

Kagome gave up.

"Home!" Rin announced, pointing ahead excitedly.

"Where?" Kagome narrowed her eyes but all she could see was a forest-lined cliff with a deep swift-running river at its base. "Beyond the forest?"

"Nope!" Rin bounced in her seat and kept her finger unwaveringly fixed on the cliff face in front of them.

Kagome kept looking until she saw that what she had thought were shadows in the rocks were actually wide windows. She looked around eagerly as Ah-Un dropped from the sky to land gently in a large sandy cave halfway up the cliff-face.

"Wow! This is so cool!"

"Calm yourself miko. The guards approach."

"Eh?" Kagome looked around as two new scents registered in her delicate nose. "What are their names! Quick!"

"Hi Mori-sama! Hi Haru-sama!" Rin waved merrily at the two approaching youkai.

_Oh man Shippo's gonna flip! Kagome inwardly squealed as she recognized the tails swishing gently behind the two youkai. _Kitsune!__

Sesshomaru carefully slid off Ah-Un. He'd insisted on riding side-saddle since Kagome insisted on wearing 'indecent' clothing. It was odd to see herself acting more lady-like when her body was possessed by a decidedly male demon.

"Welcome home Sesshomaru-sama." The slightly older kitsune greeted.

"Thanks! It's great to be here!" Kagome chirped with a smile.

Both men took a step back.

"Oh for the love of-"

"Any attacks in my absence?" Seshomaru asked, striding past their group.

They stared at the slender woman before them who acted as if she were a dominant demon.

"Hey Sesshomaru-sama…" Kagome called. "You're a human girl now, remember?"

Sesshomaru sniffed dismissively as if this were simply a minor detail he deemed his guards unworthy of knowing.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" The older, Mori, questioned with his eyes on the human girl in front of him.

"We pulled a body swap." Kagome explained, helping Rin out of Ah-Un's saddle and removing her yellow backpack. "Don't piss him off though; he's got the powers of a miko now."

The younger, Haru, looked like he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at the idea of Sesshomaru as a priestess.

Sesshomaru turned on his heel and marched away from them, towards a doorway carved deep into the cave.

"Ah wait Sessh-!" Mori couldn't finish before Sesshomaru hit an invisible wall and was thrown back several feet.

"What was that?" Kagome canted her head to the side and stared at the lightly shimmering air. "You better not have singed my hair!"

"Those are Sesshomaru-sama's private chambers." Jaken explained as Sesshomaru picked himself up and glared furiously at the doorway. "None may gain entry without Sesshomaru-sama personally escorting them inside himself."

"Miko. Remove this barrier at once." Sesshomaru ordered, never taking his eyes from the doorway.

Kagome's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious! I can't break demonic barriers in my own body, much less a loaner!"

"Clearly." Sesshomaru turned swiftly and strode back to them. "Come."

"What about the others?"

He glared.

"Please make sure my friends get rooms, and Jaken when you get a chance please show Miroku-sama the library!" Kagome called as she followed Sesshomaru back to the doorway that had rejected him.

At the last minute Sesshomaru grabbed her hand and dragged her through, then dropped it as soon as they were in a dark hallway. Kagome surveyed the interesting swirls patterned on the walls and reached up a long-fingered hand to run down the cool stone. She followed behind Sesshomaru until they turned a corner and he stopped walking.

"Miko."

"I have a name you know."

"… Kagome."

"Yes?"

"I am… unable to see."

Kagome turned to see Sesshomaru, stepping hesitantly forward in the dark with one hand raised in front of him.

"You haven't memorized your own home?" She asked. "You seem like the kind of person who would know exactly how many steps long your entry hall is."

"Forty two."

"So what's the problem?"

"My steps in this body are not as long as my steps in that body. And I am unable to smell the changes in the air as we travel deeper into the fortress and I do not wish to perish on the stairs."

Kagome heard the frustration in her own voice and took pity on him. In two strides she was beside him and took one hand, marveling at how delicate her own bones felt in her borrowed hand before placing it on the gold and purple obi knotted around her waist.

"Ready?"

"Proceed miko." Sesshomaru waved ahead of them.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat significantly and glared down at him.

"… Kagome."

"All righty! I can't wait to see your rooms, I bet they're really nice."

"Hn."

"So is this like your family fortress or something? It's pretty sweet."

"It is new."

"Really? … wait, how old is 'new' to you?"

"If I tell you will you learn to be silent?"

"No promises."

After a lengthy pause Sesshomaru sighed. "I built it two hundred winters ago."

"That's not new!" Kagome again examined the walls around her, looking for claw marks or other signs of carving but all she found were the strange swirling patterns. "How long did it take?"

"Two moon cycles."

"… Two _months? That's _it?"__

"I was in my true form."

"Ohhh…" Kagome understood the patterns now. "Youkai drool's some serious stuff."

Sesshomaru ignored her.

Kagome fell silent as she noticed a change in their air, the temperature dropped as they descended but it was Sesshomaru himself who smelled differently. He somehow smelled more relaxed, like the tension was being drained from him with every step deeper into his fortress.

The really weird thing was that the more relaxed Sesshomaru smelled, the more her own muscles loosened and tension she didn't even notice eased out of her limbs.

The path lightened and soon Sesshomaru was able to walk on his own. He paused in the entryway to a much larger room with a sigh, eyeing his rooms appreciatively. "Home."


	5. Indecent

**Things get a little racy in this chapter, I think it still is okay as a T rating but let me know if you think otherwise! There's few enough reviewers so far that I can respond to each, check at the bottom of the chapter for personalized AN's**

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><p>Sesshomaru watched the miko race around his chambers like a kitsune kit after a dozen sweet buns. It felt extremely odd, no one besides himself had entered the chambers since he'd erected the barrier but at the moment he WAS the intruder.<p>

The whole bit of nonsense was beginning to give him a headache. As a human he felt weariness and pains more keenly than he had in his entire existence. He wanted nothing more than to kick the miko out of his chambers but, loathe as he was to admit it, he was vulnerable as a mortal and he wanted his body nearby.

"I will take the first bath." He announced as the miko struggled out of his boots and dove into his bed. "WHAT are you doing?"

"Mmmmmm…" Was the guttural almost purred response. "God this is AMAZING! Is this your bed? It's like your fluffy thing but queen-sized!"

"_Queen?_" Was his icy response.

"Oh lighten up, where I come from it's a unit of measurement for beds. A single sleeping mat is called a 'twin', twice that size is a 'full', then it goes to queen and king-sized." She stretched out. "This is an amazing bed."

Sesshomaru suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Barely.

"Do not to break anything." He sighed and turned down the long hallway that led to his private bathing room.

"Where are you going?"

As much as he hated to repeat himself it seemed as though the miko needed to be told something at least three times before it sunk in. "To bathe."

"Wha-? No!" She leapt up, looking panicked. "You can't!"

"I can and I will." Sesshomaru had expected this reaction and was prepared for it.

"But-"

He glared at her. "If we are stuck like this for more than a few days do you expect me to refrain from bathing?"

"Well…" She appeared to weigh the options and come to a reluctant conclusion. "Wait just a sec."

Sesshomaru wasn't sure what a 'sec' meant, but humored her and waited while she rooted around in the yellow knapsack. She emerged with a few bottles and hesitantly handed them to him.

"This one's body wash and this one's for your hair, let it sit for a minute okay?"

"A minute?"

"Umm… like as long as it takes for you to count to fifty."

"All right."

"And!" She blurted as he turned away again. "Please don't… I mean… You'll be the first guy to… see that much of me…" She looked flustered but he was beginning to understand, even though the conclusions he drew confused him.

"My half-brother hasn't-?"

"We're not like that." She shrugged but he could read old hurt in her eyes.

Still, he found it oddly pleasing that she was not claimed by his brother. He reasoned that it was because he did not want to be mated to a male hanyou, much less one that was kin by blood.

"Hn." He took a step towards the bathing area but a small whimper stopped him again. "I will pass no judgements."

"Thank you Sesshomaru-sama." She surprised him by bowing low. "I know how hard battles and travel can be on my body. Please take your time, I won't break anything."

He nodded and followed the short hall into his bathing area, pushing aside the hanging mat that kept the humidity of the spring from the rest of his rooms. It was just as he left it and he sighed in relief, letting his guard down for the first time since leaving the fortress on patrol nearly a month before.

After placing the bottles at the clear pool's edge he began undressing. The clothing was strange and the fastenings vexed him greatly but he eventually figured out how to remove the skirt and top, leaving the odd undergarments the miko favored. They were made of a material he was unfamiliar with, it had the patterns of flowers but was sheer and blue, matching the girl's eyes while emphasizing her not inconsiderable assets.

_I do not know what her cause for concern was. _He mused as he slid away the undergarments, turning to the floor-length mirror he'd received as a gift from his mother half a millennia before.

The miko had a physique that even a demoness would envy. Full, high curves and long leanly muscled legs with a flat stomach connecting the two. He stretched and experimentally touched his toes, smirking in surprise when he found he could lay both hands flat on the floor without bending his knees.

_A powerful unclaimed female, untouched, and she is quite flexible._ He mused. _My half-brother is a fool._ Before he fully realized the turn that his thoughts had taken he found himself considering how the girl's fiery temperament would influence her as a mate.

When an image presented itself in his mind of the body he now possessed responding to his real form he shivered and shook himself, trying to rid himself of the troublesome idea. Still, he noticed that the miko's body responded even without a lover present.

_She is more than ready to accept a mate._ He shook himself again, pushing _that_ idea away firmly and stepping into the bath.

Immediately the aches and pains of the day soothed away in the steaming water and he groaned, the sound coming out soft and feminine.

"Sesshomaru-sama? You okay?" His voice asked worriedly from the other room.

"Hn." He responded. Another thing that separated humans and youkai, he discovered, was their sense of touch. While his other senses had been dulled to the point of uselessness he found that his sense of touch was heightened a thousand fold.

His father's choice to take a human mate was beginning to make sense to him.

Concerned with the thoughts, Sesshomaru stood and filled a bucket with water, taking the two bottles and using the one indicated for his hair, leaving it in while he rubbed down his borrowed body with the other.

He had to bite his lip to keep the small indecent noises at bay as the slippery substance coated his hyper-aware skin with soft bubbles and he found an unexpected pleasure in massaging the 'conditioning shampoo' into his hair.

It was impossible to completely ignore all the sensations and touches and he quickly submerged in the water, feeling dirtier than when he'd originally gone in for enjoying the stolen touches on a borrowed body.

He dried off quickly and slipped into a spare haori as even his bathing yukatas all but swallowed the slender form of the girl. A small frown touched his new features when he realized the sleeves went well past his hands and he had to tie them back.

The stone was rough and cool under his bare feet as he padded back to the bedroom. "You may bathe now." He tilted his head in the direction he'd come from.

"Are you sure?" She hesitantly took a step that way.

"I have nothing to be ashamed of." He allowed himself a smirk at her glower.

"Fine! Here I go!" She stomped off down the corridor and he wondered idly if it was normal for humans to narrate their motions.

He was just about to kneel at his desk when a growl reverberated from the bathing room. He retraced his steps and swept aside the hanging partition to find the miko almost fully dressed still, only having removed his obi and swords.

"What now?" He asked exasperatedly.

"I can't… figure out… damnit! I'm just gonna use your damn claws to slice the crap out of-"

"No you will not." He swept up to her and began skillfully slipping the ties that held his armor and pelt in place.

She squirmed uncomfortably but allowed the assistance without complaining until he'd stripped her down to haori and hakama.

"Okay! I can get it from here! Thank you so very much for your assistance!" She jumped backwards, almost into the pool, before gaining her balance again and holding her hands up defensively.

He raised one eyebrow minutely and gathered the garments and weapons she'd shed, turning his back on the flustered taiyoukai.

"Oh hey, Sesshomaru?" She asked his retreating form, dropping the honorific in her fluster.

He paused so she'd know he was listening.

"How exactly do you wash your hair without… you know… slicing it all off?"

He continued into his chambers, placing the armor and weapons in their rightful places and hanging his pelt before returning to the bathing area where the miko now lounged in the water. She yelped when he knelt behind her and sank lower in the pool.

"What the hell?"

"You lack the skills required to wash my hair with one hand and claws and I have no desire for a haircut. Stay still." He ordered.

To his surprise she obeyed and he found himself elbow-deep in swirls of water and silver hair, indulging again in the guilty pleasure of touch as the silky strands slid through his fingers.

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><p><strong><span>Sugar0o<span>- I couldn't imagine Sesshy _building_ a home, it was only natural that he destroy one into existance =P**

**d1996- Woo hoo! A male reviewer! Don't worry, I'm sure you're not the only guy on here, just probably the only one brave enough to admit it ^.~ Here, I have something that I'd welcome a male perspective on. It's a one-shot I wrote for live journal's Dokuga contest and it won first place! http:/ azurevi. livejournal. com/576. html#cutid1 Because Fanfic is weird about URL's you have to remove the spaces in the URL but it should work. Tell me what you think!**

**Kat1023 and ahh- I usually update pretty quickly so stick around ^.^**

**Nlech, Lily of the val, Shil and Never 3 kno- I love making people laugh, it's why I write, I will do my best to keep you amused so keep reading please!**


	6. Dashing

**Hey guys, fanfic got crazy last time I posted and erased this chapter and made it invisible and all kinds of other stuff so if you reviewed and it got erased please write me another! Or just write one for this chapter that has some extra lovin! **

**Also, I'm trying to get on to Dokuga but for some reason the site's saying that my account has been blocked but... I don't have an account to block!**

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><p>Kagome followed the imposing figure of… well, herself, back to 'their' chambers. Two days had passed since they first arrived at the fortress and they were no closer to finding out how to lift the spell than when they started.<p>

"Do you want the bath first?" She asked, stifling a yawn.

She'd discovered that youkai didn't need the same amount of sleep that humans did and had used the nights to explore the fortress and talk with her friends. During the day Sesshomaru insisted that she accompany him everywhere so that no one would doubt his authority so she'd been busy.

As they headed back to their rooms she balanced a dinner tray on one hand. The western lord was still not used to being ruled by his body's needs and was shocked at how often humans needed to eat. Once he realized that the norm was three meals a day he'd arranged to have a tray delivered to his rooms, making Kagome go retrieve it from the entryway.

"You may bathe." Sesshomaru's indifferent tone was ruined by the growl of his stomach and Kagome chuckled.

"Hungry again?" She carefully placed the tray on the desk and resisted the urge to ruffle Sesshomaru's dark bangs.

As she prepared for her bath she pondered on the strange calming effect her real body's scent had on her new body. Whenever Sesshomaru was relaxed, she was relaxed, when he was agitated, she got twitchy, and so on and so forth. She considered the idea that it was just the reaction to her body that influenced her but it seemed more complicated than that.

_Yeah cause my situation isn't complicated enough. She rolled her eyes at herself and undressed slowly._

It was only her second bath, the first time she'd been too freaked out about being naked and Sesshomaru-y to let her inner teenager run free but now that she was more used to the shell she decided that sneaking a peek was in order.

A quick listen to the bedchamber insured that Sesshomaru was absorbed in eating and wouldn't bother her for awhile and she let the haori drape on the shoji screen she used to partition the bathing pool and mirror from the entrance to the room. With that extra measure in place she turned to the mirror and examined herself closely.

_Wow… I was right about the hips. She traced the twin curving stripes over her hips on either side, a motion that would normally make her shiver but felt like nothing more than pressure. _Damn… you could freaking grate cheese on these abs of steel. She grinned and flexed at the mirror, happily running a claw down the individual abdominal muscles. _Hellooo! What have we here! She turned slightly and examined a muscle set she'd never seen before, almost like a second smaller set of ribs behind and attached to the first ones.___

She found that they moved most when she snapped and pulled in her arm like a punch. Regardless, it was clear that the taiyoukai was _cut. She untied the hakama and let them slide down her hips but chickened out and looked away when they exposed any crucial bits. Not that she was completely unfamiliar with Sesshomaru's body, she'd bathed before, but if she was being honest then she'd have to admit that she washed quickly and sparingly._

_Come on Higurashi you big wuss, here's your chance to get some real 'first hand' experience on how to guys work! She blushed at her internal voice's goading and wondered when it had become such a pervert as she submerged in the clear pool._

It had taken her a few days to notice that she couldn't physically feel things as strongly as usual. She understood why Sesshomaru seemed to be able to go for days without removing his armor, when she'd had it on for the first day she barely noticed it at all, it was hardly uncomfortably despite its bulk and multitude of spikes. It also explained why he and Inuyasha didn't faint when they had a hole punched through their gut or other similar injuries that would have anybody else fainting from the shock.

The only time she was really aware of the feel of her skin was when her true body was touching it. Like the other night when Sesshomaru had washed her hair, his fingertips left tingles along her scalp and where he'd brushed the edges of her ears. Once again, Kagome figured that this had to do with being in contact with the body her soul belonged in but she couldn't shake the niggling sensation that there was something else she was missing.

_Despite being a cold-hearted jerk… She lolled her head to the side and made eye-contact with the taiyoukai in the mirror. _He really is ungodly dashing.__

Golden eyes looked daringly back, trailing over the features that contrasted so sharply and made Sesshomaru's physical form seem so ethereal.

"Miko?" Kagome's real voice drifted in through the hallway.

"Hmm?" Responded Sesshomaru's true throaty tones.

"Do you… require assistance?" He seemed loathe to offer but Kagome knew he'd rather get his hands dirty than see his hair loped off, the vain ass.

"Yeah that'd be good." She straightened in the water, turning so that her back faced the entryway and patiently waited until fingers started working through the heavy silver strands. "Hey Sesshomaru-sama?"

The hands paused for a moment and she took this as a cue that he was listening.

"Have you noticed a difference in your sense of touch?"

There was another pause as Sesshomaru went back to work, dumping a bucket of water over Kagome's head before working shampoo into her hair. "Yes. You feel temperature and texture change more strongly than youkai."

She nodded and hummed happily when the movement made his fingers rake against her skin. "Have you noticed any differences when we're… touching?" she bit her lip, accidently pricking it with a fang.

Sesshomaru froze, hands gripped tightly in her long hair.

"I-I have this theory… that when we're closer to our true bodies it soothes us, and when there's more distance we feel more detached." She was babbling, she knew it, but she also knew that something she said had made Sesshomaru's human scent spike in fear. That fear made her feel anxious and so she babbled, hoping to calm him somehow.

It helped because he began working through her thick hair again, though his movements seemed more mechanical and his scent was more reserved than before.

"It's possible." He said finally.

She nodded, relaxing finally and letting the tingles caused by Sesshomaru's surprisingly gentle ministrations lull her. Of course she wasn't sure that she'd be able to tell much difference between gentle and rough given her general state of desensitization.

Just to test she dug the claws on her hand into the meat of her palm and hissed faintly as a completely foreign feeling washed through her. It gathered in her low belly and flooding outwards, making her feel heavy and tight all at once like she was unconsciously flexing a muscle.

"There. When you are finished you may have the bed for the evening, even I begin to tire after a wek and no rest."

"A week?" She started, concerned that she'd somehow lost track of time.

"I did not sleep for several nights before we fought Naraku."

"Oh. Thank you Sesshomaru-sama." She murmured as he left her.

It took her a few more moments to identify the feeling from before, and when she did she would have blushed scarlet if she'd been capable. It seemed that Sesshomaru found pain combined with a woman's touch _very stimulating._

Face burning she ducked under the water and stayed there for several minutes and when her lungs didn't ever start burning for air she felt her heart clench. She was truly in foreign territory.

When she got a handle on her rioting emotions she stood, dedicatedly ignoring her body as it asserted its undeniable maleness, and squeezed water out of her hair. She wrapped a plain white silk yukata around her still damp body, tying it tightly to keep it from slipping.

She quickly learned that pain was not a sufficient motivator to get her body back under control as it seemed that strong physical stimulation was just that, stimulating. A few deep breaths later and she was acceptably decent and moving into the bedchamber.

Kagome wasn't surprised to see Sesshomaru in the bed already but she was surprised to see him tucked in on one side, leaving plenty of room for her tall frame and space in between. She lay down in reverse so her head was at his feet and within moments, she was asleep.

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><p><strong>Yeah, I know, I'm a tease. But it's a T rating! I'll probably change it to M if I put it on Dokuga.<strong>


	7. In Despair

Sesshomaru ran his finger down the line of kanji on a scroll, eyes rapidly scanning the text. Down the row the miko sighed and shelved another scroll. The houshi was similarly frustrated but had much better control of his emotions and didn't show it as obviously.

"This is totally hopeless! The only damn owners of the damn sword have been you and your father and do you have any idea what one of his fangs was capable of?" She accused Sesshomaru.

He shrugged.

Her eyes widened at a sudden thought and she gasped. "Oh god, there's not one of YOUR fangs in it too is there?"

"Of course not."

"Oh thank goodness. When Inuyasha broke the tetsusaiga Totosai had to use one of his fangs to repair it. Since then it's gained all kinds of crazy new powers."

"I am not so careless as to _break_ the fang my father entrusted to me." He managed to make Kagome's vocal chords produce a good imitation of a growl.

"Yeah well just because you haven't broken it doesn't mean you know how to use the damn thing!" She shot back, her frustration with the situation having reached a peak.

"Do not despair Kagome-sama." The houshi consoled her with a pat on the shoulder. "We will find a way to undo this bit of mischief."

"Bit of mischief?" Kagome burst out. "When Shippo steals my underwear _that's _a 'bit of mischief' when you grope me or Sango THAT'S a 'bit of mischief' this is a catastrophe!"

"The kit has divested you of your undergarments?" Mori asked from the other side of the shelf. "It seems that children grow up faster than I recall."

"Don't you get any funny ideas buster." She shot back. "Remember, the underwear may belong to me but it's Sesshomaru who's wearing them now."

Mori grimaced, oblivious to his lord's perceptive gaze.

"I most certainly am not." Sesshomaru sniffed in disdain.

There was a lengthy pause in the library.

"Y-you're not wearing underwear?" Kagome choked out, looking humiliated and enraged at the same time.

Sesshomaru contemplated the intimidating inu taiyoukai before him, filing away how truly terrifying he was with a mixture of pride and trepidation. While it was spectacular to BE him when angry it wasn't as wonderful to be BEFORE him when angry.

"I have made my preference in clothing clear miko." He waved to the white kimono he currently wore with its embroidered silver and blue koi fish. It was a kimono that was only worn by the alpha female of his pack and since he had not chosen a mate the wardrobe was his to pilfer. The fact that the clothes fit him perfectly in his current form did not escape his notice but he chose not to dwell on it.

The miko let out a sigh of relief and they all returned to their current tasks of perusing the library for mentions of tensaiga or body-exchange in general.

Two hours passed before the unthinkable happened.

Sesshomaru noted the houshi's presence behind him and held his ground. If the monk needed to pass in the narrow gap he would have to find a way to defy physics because as an alpha Sesshomaru had no intention of moving.

"Pardon me." The houshi's distracted smooth voice came behind him.

Before Sesshomaru could react a hand had cupped his bottom and was steering him gently out of the way.

The lord of the western lands froze. Then his brain kicked in and his hand wrapped around the ivory handle of the curved dagger tucked into his obi.

A shrill cry had Kagome racing with youkai speed to the aisle where Sesshomaru and Miroku now stood in a mock-intimate embrace. Sesshomaru had Miroku firmly by the neck of his robes, pulled down until they were almost nose-to-nose. Miroku was whimpering as a wicked blade dug deeper into the dark front of his clothes.

"While it is your hands that wander this Sesshomaru believes they are ruled by this appendage and shall remove it accordingly." The misplaced demon was talking in neutral, pleasant tones that did not bode well for the houshi.

"I apologize Sesshomaru-sama! It was a conditioned reflex! Nothing sinister intended!" Miroku was as near tears as he was to being emasculated. His eyes widened when he saw Kagome. "Kagome-sama! Thank goodness! Save my children!"

"I think I owe it to the world to ensure that there is no Miroku jr." The girl in the demon body crossed her arm and leaned against the shelf, for all appearances completely at ease with the situation. "And if Sesshomaru-sama decides to spare you then I WILL be grateful."

Sesshomaru shot her a sideways look with the slightest questioning tilt to his eyebrows.

"… Because that means I get a chance to return his claws to him the way he likes them." She smiled and flexed her hand. "Bloody."

_Now that's a female worthy to be by my side. _Sesshomaru felt a subdued tilt to his lips that didn't do justice to the satisfaction he felt at seeing the newfound respectful fear in the houshi's eyes.

"Miroku?" Sango's voice preceded her as she peeked into the library.

"Here!" He yelped as Sesshomaru twisted the knife.

"What the-?" Sango exclaimed before fixing the monk with a glare. "What did you DO?"

"I am the victim here!"

"You are NEVER the victim nor have you ever been innocent." She strode down the aisle before expertly disarming the girl holding her betrothed at knife-point.

Sesshomaru stared at the hand that had held his knife in surprise. He hadn't been disarmed in centuries and realized that it was possible that he'd come to rely too heavily on his youkai strength and skill with the sword and neglected his practice with other weapons. He vowed to rectify this by taking the miko's body to the dojo as soon as his quarrel with the monk was resolved.

"I'll take the blade and the monk. Thank you for your patience, I won't be so forgiving." Sango promised with a murderous glare at Miroku.

He looked from his enraged fiancée to the coldly furious miko and made his decision.

"I will suffer Sesshomaru-sama's wrath!" He yelled even as he was dragged out of the library by the back of his robes. "Please!"

"Bye-bye!" Kagome waved cheerfully to him. "I can't wait to hear your new singing voice!"

Miroku whimpered.

"Things sure have been lively around here since you came back from patrol Sesshomaru-sama!" Mori commented cheerfully, carrying a fresh armload of scrolls.

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><p><strong>Thank you to SugarOo for reminding me to update on here too! I've been updating on dokuga and have changed the rating to M there, the only real differences so far are to chapter 5, indecent and 6, dashing. You know the drill, just remove the spaces!<strong>

**http:/ dokuga. com/ fanfiction/ story/ 5517/1  
><strong>


	8. Dense

"I just don't see what the big deal is." Inuyasha stretched, walking beside Kagome.

Rin had insisted on playing in the field outside the fortress and they had decided a change of scenery would be good for them. Sesshomaru stood underneath the shade of a willow tree, monitoring his charge while Kagome and Inuyasha walked along the river bank.

"I mean, this way you can stay alive, you're not mortal anymore." He looked away and she could smell the sadness that colored his scent whenever the mortality of humans was brought up.

"Well yeah but I'm not me anymore either." She flexed her hand to influence her point, razor-claws glittering in the sun.

"You're still you. You're just not… a girl anymore." He shrugged. "Besides. I'd way rather have you for a brother than that arrogant bastard." He jerked his thumb over to where Sesshomaru was watching Rin.

Kagome sniffed the air, taking in Sesshomaru's content scent and Inuyasha's chaotic one. The hanyou's natural scent was overlaid with multiple emotions but the most prominent was one that made her freeze.

"Why are you relieved?" She asked quietly.

He started and immediately smelled guilty.

"You do want me to get my body back… don't you?" She kept her voice even but she swallowed hard and waited desperately for his answer, praying it wasn't the one she knew was coming.

"Keh. Course I do." His scent spiked.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, already used to the calming gesture. "You know… I get it now, why you rely so heavily on scent. I think your brother has an even more precise sense of smell."

"What the hell makes you say that?" He scoffed.

"I can smell you're lying Inuyasha." She turned and left him, striding quickly back to her own body.

She knew without checking that he was gone as his scent disappeared from the glade, leaving only the faintest traces behind. When she reached Sesshomaru she wrapped her arm around his slender shoulders from behind, tugging him flush against her body and burying her face in the curve of his neck, letting her heavy curtain of hair fall over him.

"Miko-" He broke off when a small sob broke through her control. "Kagome?"

"I-I'm sorry." She mumbled, inhaling the scent of her real body deeply. "I need to know who I am."

There was a small catch in the breath Sesshomaru took at her statement. "You are annoying, impertinent, defiant and naïve."

A sniffling chuckle was his only response.

"We will fix this."

She nodded and let him go, backing away to where she was no longer in his personal space. "It's pretty ironic that I'm beautiful for the first time in my life and Inuyasha still can't see it."

Both Sesshomaru's dark eyebrows shot up in surprise and she was fascinated to see a faint blush color his cheeks. "You are wasted on my half-brother."

"Really?" She offered him a tremulous smile.

"True dog demons are loyal to their mates." The blush faded as he fell behind his detached shield. "They tie their lives to their partner's and follow them in to death."

"That's stupid." She dismissed.

He did a good impression of a growl. "_How _is that stupid?"

"I don't want my partner to die when I die. That's just stupid and selfish. I want them to live, there's no way I'd be happy in the afterlife if I was responsible for their death."

Sesshomaru frowned. "I do not think you understand human."

"Probably not." They watched Rin in silence for a few minutes before a thought struck Kagome. "Hey, is that why you don't have a mate?"

He graced her with a questioning look.

"Since you'd be tying yourself to them, dying when they die and all that, do you see that as weakness?"

It was his turn to shrug. "Perhaps."

"You know, for being old and powerful and stuff, you're kinda dense." She grinned at his arched eyebrow. "About love."

"I do not believe in it."

"Hmm, so you're looking for a partner of convenience. How very… male." She folded herself at the base of the tree.

"My gender does not dictate my beliefs." He sat next to her, just out of arms reach. "It is a permanent commitment and I have to be sure."

"How could you be sure? It's impossible to be sure about love, that's the whole point! It's a super chaotic emotion."

"Demons know when they meet their mate." He announced with an air of such assurance that she arched an eyebrow.

"How?"

"Scent." He looked surprised that she would even ask.

"You can _smell _compatibility? What's it smell like?"

He gave her a disparaging look. "I believe we already established that I am without a mate."

"Okay, so what's it _supposed_ to smell like?"

He looked away and for a long moment she thought that he might not answer her. "… Home."

"Oh. I know that smell." Kagome smiled. "I think my body smells kinda like that." She gestured at him, then realized the implications of her words as she took in his stunned expression. "N-Not that I'm compatible with your nose or anything! Just that… I've been surrounded by my own scent my whole life and it was one of the few constants, no matter what happened I always smelled the same. It was soothing in a way. Now that I don't have it for the first time ever I miss it. It's the only thing that really ties me to home."

He thought over what she said and finally nodded. "Your body is your home."

"Exactly!" She exclaimed. "Even though your body happens to be a lot more attractive, my body was still mine and I miss it."

"Your body is not… unattractive." He looked away again and his scent changed in a new way.

It took her a minute to put her finger on it, the only other time she'd smelled it was when she'd walked into Sango's room and found Miroku visiting her friend, both looking a little disheveled and breathing erratically.

"Oh?" She asked throatily, only managing the monosyllable as part of her brain seemed to shut down.

"Hn. For a human." The scent grew stronger.

Kagome leaned over and inhaled through her nose, eyes sliding half closed. "Wow… I smell like… soothing and… like how your fluffy thing _feels, does that make sense?"_

He looked startled and whirled to face her. "… Yes, why are-?"

"I smell all soft and warm and comforting and kinda… sexy?"

Sesshomaru shifted, suddenly smelling very uncomfortable with the turn that the conversation had taken. "Careful miko."

"Mmm… I smell good enough to… to…" Kagome hummed deep in her throat and rose to her knees over Sesshomaru. Her vision grew sharper and everything except the girl in front of her faded into the background.

"Miko… KAGOME!" Sesshomaru suddenly snapped, breaking Kagome out of her haze.

"Huh?" She realized she was poised on her hand and knees over her own body with the intention of doing very bad things to it. "Wha… what was that?"

"Instinct." Sesshomaru rolled away, coming to his knees with eyes averted and head tilted to the side to expose a long sun-kissed neck when he was out of reach.

Kagome rocked back on her heels. "What are you doing?"

"Submitting." He spat the word out angrily.

"Why?"

"Because _I _find defiance arousing." He stated, making it clear that he was referring to himself in his original body. "Are you quite done?"

_He's still worried that I might be out of control. _She thought, acknowledging that he may not be too far off the mark.

"Yeah I'm good."

"Good. I'd hate to get raped by myself." He muttered but youkai hearing made his statement clear.

"WHAT? I would NEVER do that." She felt shocked to her very core and the thing that bothered her most was that she wasn't sure what she would have done if Sesshomaru hadn't got through to her.

"Hn."

"Okay fine. If I try to come on to… me again, I give you full permission to purify your body."

He gave her a cold look and she let some of her fear show in her expression. She showed him just how much that small lapse in control had scared her.

He hesitated, then nodded once.

"Thank you."


	9. In Defiance

The attack came without warning in the middle of the night.

A moth taiyoukai led a group of fearsome and varied insect youkai to storm Sesshomaru's fortress. Word had gotten out that the Western lord was weakened AND in the possession of the shikon jewel and the lesser demons had reacted accordingly.

"Shit." The miko swore, looking down at the oncoming horde.

It seemed that every demon that had stayed out the way while Naraku was alive had banded together to steal the jewel and gain control of the land.

"Hn." Sesshomaru agreed. "This is inconvenient."

Kagome snorted a laugh at his assessment and looked at him. "What do you want to do? I don't think that our friends can manage them all without being in serious danger."

"We will fight." He stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Do you have ANY idea how to use my power?" She rolled her eyes as his gaze shifted away.

"Some."

"Yeah. About as much as I know about using yours." She ran a hand through her hair. "Miroku's got no wind tunnel and Inuyasha hasn't come back yet from wherever he's sulking. We are so screwed."

Sesshomaru frowned at the rampaging youkai as they scaled the cliffs of his home without difficulty. His guards threw spears and shot arrows but there were too many, they'd be overwhelmed in mere minutes. With the exception for their leader, they were mindless beasts, intent on one thing and one thing only, power. They were taking no prisoners tonight.

"Rin." He called to the nearby girl, the only person around who was not fighting.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama?" She asked sweetly, despite her wide eyes.

A centipede youkai crested over the ledge they stood at and Kagome shredded it messily with her claws, leaving half of it intact. With an annoyed growl she crushed its head beneath her boot and Sesshomaru had to repress a smirk. It seemed as though the miko was very receptive to responding to his battle instincts and had potential.

"I have a task for you little one." He ordered gently.

"Anything!" Rin stopped glancing nervously at the ledge, fixing him with wide earnest eyes.

"When the miko and I lose consciousness, you need to pull the sword out."

She looked at him in confusion whilst nodding. "Will it hurt Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Perhaps. But your task is to remove the sword, no matter what." He instructed clearly and carefully.

"Yes Sesshomaru-sama." She bobbed her head eagerly.

Kagome stood with her back to them, facing the oncoming enemy. "What are you plotting?"

"That we repeat the incident that led to our current predicament."

"Uh… bad idea?"

"Or we die at their hands." He watched as a beetle youkai illustrated his point beautifully by charging over the ledge straight at them and the miko had to resort to brute strength to toss it back awkwardly with one hand.

She glanced back at him and shrugged begrudgingly. "Good idea?"

"Indeed. But this human body lacks the strength to drive a sword fully through two bodies."

"Hey! I'm not stabbing us! That's so wrong!"

Sesshomaru huffed and crossed over to her, drawing tensaiga defiantly and handing it to her. When she took the proffered sword automatically he stepped up to her, pressing his chest tightly to her breastplate.

"What are you doing?" She asked skeptically, glancing from the sword to him and back again.

"Making it easier to impale us on the same sword."

"You make it sound like it's no big deal." She growled, glaring at the sword.

It was quite deceptive as it looked razor-sharp despite being unable to wound.

"This Sesshomaru has been stabbed many times." He replied haughtily, though felt that his derision was somewhat lessened by the miko embracing him.

"Yeah well _this Kagome _has not. And is not looking forward to doing it again." She sighed. "Do we have to? I kinda like being super strong and… well, volcanically hot."

Sesshomaru wasn't sure what temperature had to do with their situation but a glance at the miko's shifting gaze told him that it was a euphemism for something else. "If you wish to live we must and… I promise to protect you." He finished quietly.

Another crash at the cliffs made her mind up for her and, holding his gaze steadily, she drove the sword through his back and into her own chest.

The familiar wrenching feeling came as before but with it came the oddest sensations. It felt like instead of one great pull where they were connected, that there were many varied ties bleeding power everywhere around them. He felt strange and light and whole all at once as they fell to their knees together. A burning pain shot through his left shoulder and extended and pulled, aching and stretching until he roared in pain and lost consciousness.

A soft sound of exertion brought him back to awareness and he saw Rin stumbling backwards with the tensaiga in hand, having just pulled it free.

He let out a relieved breath when he saw that the miko was in front of him, blinking languidly up at him.

"It worked?" She asked groggily.

He was about to answer when he really looked at her, and blinked in surprise. A silver crescent moon marked her forehead and silver lined her eyes. Her scent had changed too, it carried with it the heavy heady undercurrent of power and she no longer had the faint undertones of death that colored all human's natural scents. The jewel was also conspicuously missing but he could sense its power emanating from within her.

He could smell his own power infused in the girl and feel her power infused in him. Since she now possessed part of his power he reasoned that, logically, she belonged to him now. She was in fact more irrevocably bound to him than if he had mated the girl and he found himself strangely accepting of the notion.

_Mine. _He thought, lips quirking minutely at the sentiment.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried out as a shadow blocked the moonlight behind him.

A wave of crimson rage washed over him at the idea that something would dare threaten the two females he thought of as belonging to him and he spun, swinging a beautiful sword in his restored left arm and neatly beheading a mantis youkai.

"Uh… wow." Kagome rocked up to her feet, swinging her arms as she tried to adjust to her new center of gravity.

Sesshomaru caught her in his free hand, loving the feel of how his hand engulfed hers. He'd missed having big hands.

"Sorry, guess I'm clumsy again!" She blushed and he smirked.

"Your body was not clumsy when I possessed it."

"Oh shut it you jerk." She grumbled without heat.

"Wow Kagome-sama! You're so pretty!" Rin exclaimed, looking at the girl in awe.

"Thanks?" She glanced at Sesshomaru in confusion.

"Your appearance has altered."

"What really?" She looked alarmed, then grabbed his hand holding his new sword and gasped at her reflection in the unmarked side of the blade. "What the eff?" She exclaimed, touching the moon marking on her forehead, then looking up to his own similar mark and flushing an attractive shade of pink.

It took her a moment longer but she finally noticed that the arm she was holding was half of a matching set. "Holy mackerel! You grew an arm! And a sword!"

"So I did." He raised the sword and examined it, finding it a perfect symbol of his personality and power in sword-form. "Bakusaiga."

"You named it? That's so… sweet." She grinned at his annoyed look.

"It was brought into being named." He stated with a glare.

"Well." She gestured off the ledge.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Go test it out! And you know… save all of us while you're at it." She waved him off again and this time he went, more than ready to christen his new fang in the blood of his enemies.


	10. Dare

**Last chapter! Thank you for the reviews!**

* * *

><p>Kagome stood debating at the entrance to Sesshomaru's chambers. After the battle—which Sesshomaru single-handedly (but with two hands now) won, he'd returned to his chambers and she'd slept in Rin's room. It felt weird, after calling Sesshomaru's room and body home for over a week she hadn't slept well and kept waking up confused. Her body felt small and vulnerable and she felt strangely exposed in her usual school uniform. Now she was in front of his rooms, unsure if the barrier would accept her, and even more unsure of the reaction of the taiyoukai within.<p>

She took a deep breath and threw caution to the wind, stepping forward… and through the barrier with no resistance. She smiled and began walking down the hall, pleased that she could see better in the dark than if she were a normal human. Which was the excuse she was using to visit Sesshomaru, she wanted to know why she had his mark on her forehead and what that meant in addition to so many questions she felt that only he could answer. Like why she missed him, and why her heart had been pounding like crazy when she first woke up in her own body again to find him holding her.

At the end of the hall she paused, unsure if she should announce her presence but suspecting that Sesshomaru already knew she was there.

A soft derisive snort confirmed her suspicion. "Are you planning on lurking there all day miko?"

"I was thinking about it." She responded haughtily, stepping into his room.

She blushed when she found the youkai lord reclining on his bed in a simple silk nemaki.

"Did I wake you up?" She arched an eyebrow at his state of undress.

"Hardly." He touched the bed almost wistfully. "I was just… recalling."

Kagome knelt and touched the bed for herself, sighing in contentment as the absurdly soft fur caressed her hand. "Wow. I see what you mean, it feels totally different now."

"Indeed." He ran a hand down the fur next to him. "Why are you here miko?"

"Damnit Sesshomaru, I lived in your body for freaking ever, the least you can do is call me by my name!" She stood and stamped her foot, earning a small smirk from the taiyoukai. "I'm here because… well… I wanted to know if you knew anything about what tensaiga did… this time."

He rose fluidly and towered over her, catching a lock of her hair and bringing it to his face to inhale gently. "You smell of me."

Her heart took a minute to start beating again but when it did it made up for lost time. "Uh, what?"

Sesshomaru huffed in annoyance. "You are infused with my power, part of me was left behind in the transition."

"Ooookay, so what exactly does that mean?"

He gave her a disparaging look.

"I mean, does that mean you're not as strong because I have some of your power because you kinda kicked ass last night."

"I have power to spare." He sniffed. "And I have been infused with your power as well."

She frowned. "How the heck does that work?"

He raised an eyebrow but was used to her odd future speech. "You have made this Sesshomaru impervious to an attack from sacred powers."

"Oh great, I just made you more powerful." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "And what about the mark? Do I _belong_ to you now?" She asked sarcastically.

He brushed the silver crescent moon on her forehead. "Yes."

She raised startled eyes to his face to find an almost gentle smile gracing his mouth that made her breath catch. After spending so much time in his body she missed being able to ogle him without fear of being caught and her eyes went on auto-pilot. She greedily stared at his high cheekbones, strong jaw, fierce markings and surprisingly sensual mouth. She saved the best for last and looked up into his exotic eyes, deeply golden enhanced with predatorily slit pupils and the red slashes on his lids.

In a gesture she had grown accustomed to in the time she'd been in his body she reached up and combed her fingers through his hair from temple to as far as she could reach before letting the heavy silken strands fall free.

"You are taking liberties with my person." He reprimanded quietly but before she could apologize he threaded his own claws in her hair, twining the black tresses around his fingers. "Reciprocation is in order."

Kagome bit her lip, finding her curiosity about to either make her very happy or get her killed. "Are you saying that you'll reciprocate any liberties I take?"

He raised an eyebrow, silently daring her to try.

"Then I'll go ahead and beg forgiveness for this next liberty." She raised up on her toes, holding his gaze as she wrapped her hands around the front of his nemaki. "Please don't kill me." She whispered before pressing her lips to his.

Sesshomaru froze, fingers tightening around her hair and she dropped back to standing flat-footed. She considered showing her neck in a sign of submission to help convince him that he didn't need to kill her but thought better of it. He said himself that he liked defiance.

She suppressed a smile at his dumbfounded look, which for Sesshomaru meant that his eyes were slightly wider than usual and his lips were barely parted. She touched her lower lip with her tongue, finding the taste of him still lingering. He tracked the movement, remaining absolutely still save for his eyes and she blushed.

"You kiss me, knowing that you belong to me?" He asked finally.

"I don't belong to anyone but myself Sesshomaru." She glared, her eyes softening when she saw a flash of anger darken his eyes. "But if you ask really nicely I may stay with you for awhile."

"This Sesshomaru does not _ask_." He tangled both hands in her hair, fixing her in place. "He takes what he wants." He held her still while he bent, claiming her mouth with his own.

Kagome melted at the new sensations as he took her fuller lower lip into his mouth. She finally remembered that she was being defiant and broke away, earning a soft growl. "_This Kagome_ refuses to submit to an arrogant cold-hearted jerk who thinks she belongs to him." She buried her face in his hair, finding an elfin ear and nipping it, effectively cutting short the growl that had grown in tempo.

He backed her against the wall, caging her with his larger frame. "You dare defy me?"

"You better get used to it." She brushed her fingers along the stripes adorning his wrists. "Because you need a little defiance in your life."

A real smile took her breath away and she admitted to herself that belonging to Sesshomaru might not be so bad after all.


End file.
